Peter Occhiogrosso

This is an anecdote filled work along the lines of Studs Terkel's "Working,"except here the adverb would be "Praying." Ochiogrosso succeeds in persuading a dozen or so people to account for their spiritual travels. The stories cover a spectrum of beliefs from established world religions to New Age experiments. At times it can be slow reading. The author has a tendency to use longish sentences where two shorter ones might better serve. Some personal narratives meander like Alph the sacred show more river with its mazy motion. Questers leave adolescence and the church of their fathers, fall from grace, drift, take on their spouses' religions, have life-changing crises etc. The idiosyncratic details and contemporary American settings, however, make this a fresh read for students of comparative religion . I recommend you approach the book at a leisurely pace, least it seem like an evening of speed dating. Read a chapter today, a chapter next friday - each personal journey is self-contained. I also enjoyed the occasional background digression. The chapter on meditation is particularly insightful. In short, this is a book even an atheist might enjoy, if only for the opportunities to snarl and sneer.

If you can't locate the book but are intrigued by its subject matter, the author has an excellent website http://joyofsects.com/ which provides a colorfully arranged presentation of the spectrum of world religions. show less